Like It Was Yesterday
by Madame Rei
Summary: Set after the Dark Kingdom arc, Endymion is with the inner senshi and Serenity is with the shitennou. Jupiter attempts to maintain her sanity through her bakery/cafe, while finding their princess and ditching the prince with his own guardians. AR,S/E,S/S
1. Endymion Serenity

Chapter 1: Endymion/Serenity

Today, Jupiter had decided, was a good day. She wasn't quite sure what made it good, but there was electricity in the air to happen. The mid morning sun shone through the window and the smell of freshly baked pastries filled the air.

She tied her apron as she walked into the front of the café. Mercury and Mars were there already, sitting on the seat in the bay window, wearing waitress outfits with striped heart shaped aprons which matched her own. Venus was late. As usual. Jupiter pulled back and tied the lacy curtains on the door and sighed. Sometimes she doubted Venus' abilities as a leader.

Just as she held over the open/closed sign on the door between her fingertips, the door flung open and an orange blur whooshed past. Jupiter caught the door with one hand and turned the sign over with the other.

Venus held her apron in her hand, bag slung over her shoulder and a piece of toast half hanging out of her mouth.

"Sorry I'm late," she said through a mouthful of toast.

"We've stopped expecting you to be late, Venus-hime."

"Ah, Endymion-ouji!" Venus beamed "do we have news on the princess?" Though she almost certainly knew the reply; what difference would a day make when Serenity had not been found after four years of searching? Their faces dropped and Venus sighed softly. She hated seeing her senshi and the prince unhappy. If only they could find the princess, or the prince's guardians then they would be able to go their separate ways. Everything would be how it was before her…before _it. _

Although, there was still a part of her that didn't want to be separated; that wanted everyone to be together. What if the reason they hadn't found Serenity was because she didn't want to be found? What if she was fine where she was? Either way, they would be tearing her away from happiness she had or could have. The Minako in her wanted to leave the princess alone, but the Venus in her knew her place. Her duty.

Makoto leant against the door frame and gazed at the mid-morning sky. "Maybe today we'll find her. After all, Mars sensed her in the city." Maybe that was why it felt like a good day.

* * *

* * *

Serenity gazed at the people of Tokyo through her window. They all had something to do, and so little time in which to do it. She had an eternity to live, which at this rate was going to be spent doing nothing.

"Serenity-hime?"

The princess turned to see who had interrupted her daydreaming.

"Good morning, Jadeite." She smiled, before returning her attention to the world outside.

"Something troubling you, princess?"

She could feel his eyes fixed on her, waiting for her answer.

"I miss them, the senshi and Endymion." Her fingers fumbled with her dress. She briefly met his gaze. "You do too"

Jadeite realised this was a statement, not a question. Serenity was an excellent judge of character; able to see right into their hearts. It was like she was a bloody mind reader. With the exception of Kunzite-sempai- nobody could ever tell what he was thinking. Well, maybe Ouji-sama could. Or Venus.

But that wasn't the point. The point was the princess was a very good judge of character and...she was staring right at him. She knew what she wanted to know, but wanted to hear it from him.

"You think I miss Endymion-ouji?" he asked

She nodded "And the senshi."

"Well," he began. She had given him little room to manoeuvre. Had she planned this? "I suppose I do. We all do. But worrying about them isn't going to help." He stood up and tapped her nose. "Now, how can we make you smile again?"

Serenity jumped up and hugged his arm; her eyes lit up like a child on Christmas morning.

"Well, Id love to go ice-skating; I miss that almost as much as Endy-chan and the senshi. Oh, and there's this place called the Crown Arcade that looks fun. There's a little café above it too, called—" she began, but was interrupted by someone who had just entered.

"Serenity-hime, can I borrow your—" Zoisite had slipped into the room. He sure was a sneaky bastard, Jadeite thought. Although the site of him in curlers was the amusing site he had hoped for. Zoisite really should close the bathroom door. Before Zoisite could figure out why his fellow shitennou wasn't on the floor in hysterics, there was a bright flash that told him he had been photographed.

"You bastard!"

"You planned this didn't you, Jadeite?"

"So did you." He replied, and began to skip merrily out, but was stopped by severely pissed of Zoisite.

"I'm telling Kunzite-sempai!"

Jadeite didn't care who he told- the more people who knew, the better. And how scary did he think he looked in curlers and the princess' bunny slippers?

"He won't be home for hours, Zoi-chan! And by then, your pretty face will be all over the internet!" he sounded like he was talking to a child, rather than his superior. He turned to Serenity, "I'll just be a few minutes, okay Serenity-hime?"

"Okay," she replied with a nod "but I want Zoisite to come too."

"Can we leave him if I don't upload the photo?"

Serenity shook her head with a smile and pushed them out the room.

"And you'd better not upload that photo." She warned as she grabbed Jadeite's arm.

Serenity softly close the door, then returned to the window. Maybe today we'll find each other, she thought with a smile.


	2. Jeddy Weddy On The Pull

AN: Yes finally I have the second chapter up- after months of being told I must upload MOAR! (And a friendly kick in the arse to 'WRITE SOMETHING!' by my friend Summer finally spurred me on to finish the second chapter. I have a rough draft of the third chapter planned out (which will feature some MakoxNeph goodness ^^). Sorry it took me so long to upload, but I had exams in May/June, then was trying to mentally plan the writing of about six stories at once. Damn those plot bunnies! Anyway, enjoy and review! Review! REVIEW!

* * *

Chapter 2- Jeddy Weddy On The Pull 

"Did you enjoy the arcade, Serenity-hime?" Jadeite smiled. It was late afternoon and the sun had begun its slow descent in the sky.

Serenity snuggled her crane machine Sailor V plushie to her chest and smiled back "Yes. Thank you Jadeite."

Zoisite, who had stopped walking and currently had a puzzled look on his face asked "Didn't you want to go to that café?"

The princess also stopped walking. In the excitement of visiting the Game Centre Crown, she had almost forgotten about the café above it.

"Come on, Jed-chan!" she beamed and grabbed his wrist, pulling him along as she ran back to the arcade.

"Hey!" Zoisite called after them "Wait for me!"

* * *

The leaves crunched beneath their feet as they ran- or in Jadeite's case were pulled- back the way they came. Serenity's ballet pumps made soft tapping sounds as she ran up the stairs leading to the Fruits Parlour Crown. She peered through the window; her breath condensing on the cold glass. Nobody was inside, and all the lights were out.

"It's closed, Jed-chan." She pouted

"And from the looks of it, it's been closed for a couple of hours." Zoisite said between deep breaths. Damn, that princess could run when she was motivated.

The side door closed and the trio snapped their heads to the side. A young girl, about the same age as Serenity, was rummaging in her bag for something, managing to spill everything else onto the ground. She pulled out a bunch of keys and locked the door, then turned towards the others.

"We had to close early; problems with heating." She explained, crouching down to scoop up her possessions and return them to her bag. "It's warmer out here than it is in there!"

She must have been warm, thought Jadeite, as she was wearing a mini skirt in October.

"Will it be fixed soon?" asked Serenity

"It should be okay in a day or two. If you want a café, there's this cosy one not far from here. Rei Hino works there- she's really cool. Mysterious and rather scary, but cool. Dark hair, wears red quite a lot." The girl made her way down the staircase, twizzling the keys around her finger. "Tell them Unazuki sent you!" she said with a small salute, before walking off down the street with a spring in her step.

* * *

As Venus sang, she felt every bit the idol she had dreamt of becoming. Even if she was only performing to a dozen people in Jupiter's café. Even if she would only ever be known as ditzy blonde Minako to her fans. Mars had laughed at her when she had called them 'fans', stating few of them actually knew her name.

Mars shimmied her way to and from tables, piling empty cups and plates onto her tray and singing along with the music. Venus swore on her senshi duties that she would get Mars up on the stage with her. Mars promised Venus she would hit her on the head with the tray if she tried to. Perhaps she wouldn't drag her on stage today, since both Jupiter and Endymion were out, leaving Venus in charge.

The small bell above the door jingled and swayed as the door opened. A few red and golden leaves were blown through by a light breeze. Two young men entered- both of a similar height and age- Venus suspected only a few years older than her. Both had a similar shade of blonde hair. Maybe they were brothers. They were certainly cute. She had to tell Mars! After she'd taken first pick of course.

They stepped aside, revealing a younger girl of around eighteen. She had long silvery hair tied up in a plait and came up to the boys' shoulders. But she was probably their little sister, right? One of the boys took the girl's coat and scarf, while the other pulled out a chair for her at one of the table. Either she was their darling little sister, or this was one _very _lucky girl. There she was with two guys treating her like royalty, while Venus had nobody.

Mars placed her now empty tray on an unused table and stood on tiptoes so that she was able to reach the microphone without stepping on stage "A big hand for Minako Aino, ladies and gentlemen!" The crowd applauded as Venus made her way off the stage.

When Mars went to reclaim her tray, it was gone. In the few seconds she wasn't looking, Venus had picked her apron of the back of a chair and retied it, picked up Mars's tray and made her way over to the table of newcomers.

"Figures." She muttered to herself. Venus was always late, yet could move faster than Mars could blink when cute boys were involved.

Venus held the tray behind her back and rocked back and forth on her feet.

"Are you three siblings?"

"We're…._like_ siblings." Said the boy with sorter hair. Venus stared at the boy, her eyes demanding information.

"We grew up together. Saitou took the four of us in when we were orphaned. He's like an older brother to us." The boy with the ponytail replied

"Four?"

"Yep. There's myself; Izou but just call me Zoi. Then Saitou and Jay" he gestured with his thumb to the other boy "though we usually call him Jed, because Jay's a stupid name."

"You're names stupider." Argued Jay

"Then there's Masato" he continued, completely ignoring Jay "Best not get into what we call him, as we're in a public place. And finally, Usagi" he politely gestured to the girl in between Jay and himself.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Aino." Smiled Usagi

"Um, yes." She smiled back at the girl "Wait, did you say Saitou? Saitou Kun?"

The boy nodded.

"Silver hair? About shoulder length? Fairly tall?"

The three of them nodded in response to each question .

"Wears braces- not for teeth, the other kind" She stroked the strap of her apron with a thumb.

"That's him!" Usagi exclaimed with hands clasped together. "That's Saitou-Onii-chan!"

"Do you somehow know him, Miss Aino?" Jay asked

"We went to the same Junior High school. Shiba Koen Junior High. And we were both taught by Okamoto-sensei. I happen to know he was in love with her." She said with a smile, and continued to rock back and forth on he balls of her feet.

"Oh, really?" Jay grinned "That's an excellent nugget of information for blackmail, Miss Aino. You must come over and say hello sometime; I'm sure Saitou would love to see you."

Izou slowly turned his head to face Jay, with raised eyebrows and eyes widened. His eyes went even wider when Jay wrote down their address and phone number on a napkin, then handed it to Minako.

He glanced at the clock above the counter. Was it really five o'clock? Kunzite would be home soon, and probably not pleased that they were off gadabouting round Tokyo with the princess when they had a prince to find.

"Is that the time? Well, we really should be going." He glanced at the counter as he got up to leave. A girl with black hair was leaning against it and staring at them. How long had she been there, and why was she staring anyway? He wasn't really that interesting. Apart from dying, being turned into stone and looking after Lunarian royalty, there was nothing special about his life. Nope; nothing at all. Maybe she was staring at Zoisite. Or the princess. Yeah…that was it. But she looked like she had something to hide; like one of those ornate Japanese knives. Beautiful, but deadly. Not that he was at all interested in her. She was also wearing a red version of Minako's dress and apron. Not that he was paying any attention to what she was wearing to avoid looking into her eyes.

As Zoisite helped Serenity with her coat and scarf, Jadeite leant towards Minako and whispered into her ear; "That's Miss Hino, I presume? Miss Unazuki was right- she is rather scary" He looked at her again "Beautiful, but scary."

Minako smiled "Perhaps I can convince her to join me in visiting the five of you."

Jadeite grinned from ear to ear as he put on his coat and gloves. "That would be lovely, Miss Aino. But Saito and Masato are out during most of the day; Saito is usually back at around five, and Masato can be away all night." He inhaled deeply and slowly "So—"

"We could swing by before work tomorrow morning. We won't be open until ten."

"Excellent" the bell tinkled as her opened the door with a gloved hand. "We look forward to seeing the two of you."

* * *

Zoisite and Serenity were already waiting for him outside. They walked alongside each other, with the princess in the middle. Serenity stuffed her hands in her pockets and snuggled her nose into her pink and white striped scarf.

"What the hell did you just do?" Zoisite asked him, eyes still wide with shock "You do realise Kunzite is going to kill us. What if that girl's after Serenity and she kills her? How exactly would we explain that to the senshi? They're hardly likely to just hand over Master Endymion if we have nothing to give them. That's not how swapsies works, Jed."

"Relax, I have a plan. Besides, they hardly looked evil."

"Neither do we, but appearances can be deceiving." Jadeite raised a questioning eyebrow, so he continued "Miss Aino looked awfully familiar, and I'm sure she's just playing the 'flirty blonde bimbo' act to lull us into a false sense of security."

"It's just because you and Serenity watch too many American sitcoms and spy movies."

"Plus, that one behind the counter was giving us evils. And here was another one of them with blue hair. Blue. Hair."

"Ahhh, so you've got your eye on Miss Blue Haired Waitress, have you? Well, I can go back and ask if she'd like to come over too."

"No, wait! If you bring more, they'll easily overpower us and kidnap the princess!"

"But there'd be four of us, and three of them."

"Yes, but they'd lie in wait until Kunzite left. And do you really expect Nephrite to be up early even if he is home? Or sober? He'll probably wake up from his hangover, to find us all dead."

"You're just angry because Kunzite's gonna be really pissed off, aren't you? Or maybe it's because on this occasion I was the one talking to all the women-"

"You only spoke to one of them."

"- When you and Neph are usually the ones out on the pull. Oh yes; it's Jeddy's time to shine."

"You do realise we only used to call you that because 'Jeddy Weddy' rhymes with 'teddy'."

"You're just jealous because your stupid name doesn't rhyme with anything. Besides, my plan cannot fail."

Serenity was the one to point out what she considered a fairly obvious flaw in Jadeite's plan; "While you may have some success, I doubt their attention will be maintained when they met Nephrite and Kunzite. Between them they have great hair, lots of money and a sports car." When the boys stared at her like they had no idea what she was talking about, she added; "Trust me, I'm a woman."


End file.
